Electronic Arts has reportedly laid off the whole testing employees of over 100 high quality assurance testers who had been predominantly engaged on Apex Legends at EA’s Baton Rouge workplace—and did so by way of an unscheduled Zoom name within the early morning as we speak.
As first reported by Kotaku, the employees of over 100 contracted testers was introduced right into a shock Zoom name this morning and let go. The sources that reportedly spoke to Kotaku stated that the full-time supervisors on the studio “were not told in advance or given time to prepare.” They additionally stated the employees can be supplied two months’ severance however had been compelled to empty their desks below safety supervision.
The sources that spoke to Kotaku expressed concern for the standard of testing attributable to this sudden and abrupt determination, and the impact it may thus have on the sport itself. Bugs and glitches have all the time been a relentless plague on Apex, with a number of the newer examples together with a big exploit bug in Seer’s Heart Seeker potential and an odd and annoying bug that has been demoting ranked gamers.
This month of February has already been a tough one for the Apex franchise. Earlier this month, EA and Respawn reportedly quietly scrapped a single-player sport set within the Apex universe and likewise introduced they had been shutting down the Apex Legends cellular sport after lower than a 12 months.
These layoffs within the Apex high quality assurance departments are the most recent in what appears like a endless wave of layoffs, cancelations, and downsizing throughout the gaming and esports industries on account of the financial crunch. This 12 months already, Microsoft and Riot Games have made substantial layoffs which have affected their gaming builders, and firms like Take-Two and Ubisoft are anticipated to do the identical.
Update Feb. 28 3:05pm CT: Kotaku has up to date its report, claiming that “the total number of people affected is closer to 300.”
